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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27429991">Rediscovery</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigereyes45/pseuds/tigereyes45'>tigereyes45</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Red vs. Blue</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 00:42:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,566</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27429991</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigereyes45/pseuds/tigereyes45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Carolina doesn't really know much about Doc. She knows about his betrayal and some basic history between him and the reds and blues but she doesn't really know him. Let alone why he's still here.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Agent Carolina &amp; Frank "Doc" DuFresne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Rediscovery</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Tumblr request: Can you write something with someone giving Doc love and respect? Bonus points if its not Donut (I love donut but I want more than just him to love doc 😫)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Carolina wasn't all too sure as to what Doc's whole thing was. Even now as she watches him pacing around the kitchen she couldn't really figure out why he was still hanging out with them. Donut was gone. As far as she had seen the red soldier was the only one even remotely close to the purple clad medic. Did he have no where else to go? He had been friendly enough with Temple's lot. Surely he could find another group of friends on Chorus. Even she had managed to meet, some people.</p>
<p>Slowly sipping from the cup of hot chocolate in her hands, Carolina silently ponders. Every reason she conjures can be wiped away with knowledge of just how this group works. Maybe he feels loyal to them? If he did he wouldn't have betrayed them for an AI posing to be a god. Did he like them? Grif had made it clear that Doc doesn't like any of them. Not a single one, save for perhaps Donut. If all he cared for was the one of them now gone then why? If it wasn't for Washington and Church she wouldn't have stayed long enough to even care for the others. If it wasn't for Church she wouldn't have stayed long enough to actually give a damn about Wash.</p>
<p>"Carolina?"</p>
<p>With an expression she can only describe as total and utter despair Doc stands stock still just beyond the counter. Watching her with small, beady, brown eyes. She couldn't see but Carolina would bet that his knees were knocking against each other. As soon as her gaze meets his, the medic looks away.</p>
<p>"Sorry, um, but I just," he stops and looks down at the coffee cup. "Didn't you make that for Washington?"</p>
<p>With a brief glance she sees that he was, in fact, correct. She bites her lip. Letting a hiss out Carolina sets it down. "Yeah though I doubt he'll drink it now."</p>
<p>"Haven't you two shared beers before?"</p>
<p>"Yeah," but that wasn't the problem. She had become so distracted that it was lukewarm at best. Only the soulless drink hot chocolate lukewarm. "It's too cold now."</p>
<p>"Oh I'm sure you can heat it up real quick in the microwave." She must've made a face because he immediately backtracks. "Or, or not! I'll just start making another cup for him! Well for you too take to him! Tucker still doesn't want me too close to Wash. Apparently his injury uh, made him too gullible." He turns around and starts opening the cabinets. With almost every door open he finally finds the right shelf. He's lived here for months already. How does he not know where their cups are yet?</p>
<p>"Not that I can blame him! I did try to kill them, and I betrayed everyone. Even Donut." There's a sadness in his voice then. Not the pathetic kind of tone that made her feel pity for him. Then disgust at feeling it. That emotion she's still not sure how to deal with.</p>
<p>"So why'd you do it?"</p>
<p>With a jolt he goes rigid. The sky blue mug he just pulled down goes flying. It smacks against his finger before spinning as it hurdles towards the ground. Acting on instinct Carolina runs around the bar between them. As if coming out of a trance Doc drops, hands held out in front of him like a mitt catching a baseball coming straight down at it. Somehow he was fast enough to save the mug. Though he fell on his ass right after. "What?"</p>
<p>"Why'd you do it?" He humbly looks down at the mug in his hands. Carolina crouches down. She looks at it too. It wasn't one Tucker or Caboose had gotten while out shopping. This wasn't their color. Even though they were blue team, the two of them didn't like shades of blue that were so light. It was too close to his color. Casually she takes the cup from his shaking hands. With dull eyes Doc's head follows the mug. His body never really stops moving. Not even when he's sitting down. On that it was easy to relate to him. "Why did you betray Donut?"</p>
<p>For the first time he looks her in the eye. He still wasn't confident. Carolina's not sure if he has ever been confident in his life. Well there was that time he supposedly helped saved Wash in the Labyrinth. Apparently he was more confident then Wash was. Given how it was David's nightmare scenario it was probably easier for others to be confident in it. A shiver runs down her spine. She should have been there for him. If she had just been faster about getting over that fight,</p>
<p>"I don't know."</p>
<p>Simple and honest. What did she expect? Some long winded answer about all the little things they had done to him and how it built up over the years? Well that would be more in character for people who've dealt with the reds and blues.</p>
<p>Carolina rests the mug back on the counter. Standing, Carolina cracks her neck.</p>
<p>"Fair enough."</p>
<p>"What?"</p>
<p>Shrugging Carolina offers him a hand. "I said that's fair enough. So why are you still here?"</p>
<p>Timidly he takes her hand. With a firm grip she pulls him up easily. He feels like a small sack of potatoes to her.</p>
<p>"Ah well will I don't know work answer that too?"</p>
<p>"It could but I think that's a lie."</p>
<p>"But it worked the first time?" His voice cracks on the but. It was sort of funny.</p>
<p>"The first time you were honest." She lets him go and absentmindedly runs a finger around it's edge. "Not knowing why you betray this bunch is easy. But sticking around." He leans on the counter next to her. "You know why you're still here."</p>
<p>"I guess it's nicer then being alone." Simple and honest. It was starting to be his theme.</p>
<p>Carolina slides the mug across the counter towards him. He catches it easily without even looking. Those beady eyes were zoned in on something in the distance. An image she just can't see. A moment she's not a part of. It's not so bad being part of the watching of when a person lives one of those moments again. A silent comrade in the now. An anchor. Lately all it feels like is that she's weighing everyone down. Though she rather it be her then Wash burdened with that feeling.</p>
<p>"Could've gone with Donut."</p>
<p>Doc chuckles. "I could've. I love him. Well loved. Maybe I still do. I don't know." He runs a hand through his graying hair. How much stressed caused that? "We lived together before. Twice. Out of everyone we were the two abandoned. TWO TIMES." His laughter grows darker, slower.</p>
<p>"It was just us and Lopez once. Which was nice. The second time it felt like there was something off. It was like he had grown or changed. I was the same." Doc taps the mug against the grayish blue marble counter. "You know who else hasn't changed?"</p>
<p>"The reds and blues."</p>
<p>"Bingo. They were the same more or less. The same and they needed help. You freelancers, you can fight. I can't save someone from dying but I have something to do when I'm around them."</p>
<p>Carolina nods slowly, listening closely. "They have changed."</p>
<p>"Yeah they did, Eventually. In a gradual, slower then a fucking snail sort of way. I haven't changed since I had to deal with having my head to myself again. Then finding out he wasn't really gone. There was still an imprint in my head. A twisted distorted feeling. He was still there. I craved to have him there."</p>
<p>"They make you feel stronger. AIs."</p>
<p>"They do, but I think I'm starting to feel strong without him. I'm becoming me again." Doc finally sets the cup back down. It rings out one last time. He pushes himself off the counter and smiles. Taking an easy stance he rests his hands on his hips and looks back at her. Finally free of that memory. "And these guys were the last people who knew me before O'Malley. I feel closer to the old me around them, and if I can help, even from a distance I'll stick around for that."</p>
<p>It didn't take finding someone who knew the old her for Carolina to heal, but being with these assholes was nice. They helped push that progress along.</p>
<p>"It sounds like you have a plan."</p>
<p>"For once, I do!" He says it so cheerfully, she can't help but smile. It's the happiest she's ever heard him sound.</p>
<p>She grabs the mug and pushes it back into his hands. "Why don't you take Wash his drink?"</p>
<p>"You sure?"</p>
<p>"Yeah Doc. You aren't the only one of a journey of recovery."</p>
<p>"Thanks Car."</p>
<p>"Carolina."</p>
<p>"Right. Carolina. Sorry." He dips his head back down.</p>
<p>"Don't worry about it. I don't let anyone call me by a nickname." Doc smiles and somehow he knows right where the hot chocolate packets are. "And Doc,"</p>
<p>"Yeah?" He looks nervously back over his shoulder.</p>
<p>"You'll find yourself again. It just takes time."</p>
<p>There's a falter in his nervous smile. A simple moment when she thought she saw doubt. It's gone in a flash. He goes right back to making the hot chocolate.</p>
<p>"Thanks Carolina. I hope I do."</p>
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